Prima Nocte in the House of Hawkshroud

The engines of the Mechanicus lander was long lost in the pale blue sky as the the sun crested the distant horizon, but the dust it had left behind was only just starting to settle down. Hugh de Bracy marched down onto the red sandstone flats ahead of the four Knights accompanying him. The signal strength of the distress beacon from the explorator team was increasing steadily. They would reach the magos and his team within the hour.

+ + + SIGNAL LOST + + +

'My Baron..?'
It was de Bois-Guilbert. He'd registered the sudden cut-off too.
'Line abreast, sirs!' De Bracy interrupted the Castigator's pilot.. 'Shields to the fore!'

- o - o -

Ørn's recently completed Knight Titan army gets their first game on some of Per's lovely gaming terrain. Per uses most of his collection of Necrons to match the 2000 points Ørn was bringing. I had tagged along to take pictures and notes - and to 'remembrance' the account below. The combatants had agreed in advance to play a straight Kill Points game with a Dawn of War deployment. Since only one side has any Super Heavies, the rules from the Escalation book affording the Necrons +1 to Reserve rolls as well as giving them a Kill Point for every three Hull Points caused off any Super Heavy are in effect.

I'd also like to beg your pardon in advance, for any mix-up between Knights in the narrative below. I'm sure Ørn will be on hand in the morning, to help make any necessary corrections. ;)

We set the terrain up aiming to use as many different pieces as possible, to create a varied and interesting table. Ørn wins the roll off to choose table edge while Per takes the second roll-off and is able to force the Knights to set up first. Failing to roll the Warlord Trait that would allow a handful of Knights to Outflank, Ørn opts to spread out across the entire table with. He makes sure to keep each Knight within six inches of at least another one, to benefit from the improved Ion Shield save from shots in the Knights' front arc.

Per also spreads his army out across the width of his deployment zone, making sure to keep some distance between his heavy hitters; two Doomsday Arks and a unit of three Heavy Destroyers. Per sets up two units of Necron Warriors to fill out his centre, as well as one on each flank. A unit of Scarabs and a C'tan shard of the Nightbringer takes Per's right flank, while six Wraiths materializes just behind the Warriors on the extreme left. The Necron Overlord and his Immortals retinue is held back, to arrive by Deep Strike at an opportune moment.

After deployment is complete, the two gentlemen shakes hands across the table, before Per rolls the game's first six - to Steal the Initiative.

Round One

The Wraiths moves over the Warriors in front of them to get as close as possible to the Knight Paladin. The two Warrior squads in the centre march far enough ahead to make room for the Heavy Destroyers to get within range of the Knight Errant. The Doomsday Ark on the right and the Heavy Destroyers shoots at the Knight Errant while the other Doomsday Ark targets the Knight Warden. The Errant makes two Ion Shield saves against the Penetrating hits caused, while the last Arc misses.

All of the knights move up as far as their Difficult Terrain rolls allows. In his shooting phase, he uses two Knights to take out two of the Heavy Destroyers. The rest of the Super-Heavy Walkers expend all their shots on the Canoptek Wraiths, killing four.

0 - 0

Round Two

The Necron Overlord and his retinue of Immortals Deep Strike behind the Knight Castigator, and takes two Hull Points off it with their Gauss Blasters. The Necron Warriors in the centre shoots at the Knight Crusader, the shield saves the few glancing hits their Gauss Flayers cause. Both Doomsday Arks hits the Knight Castigator, but only one hull point is lost to the one Penetrating Hit caused. The two remaining Wraiths assaults the Knight Warden, but quickly gets stomped into oblivion. First Blood to Ørn!

The Knight Castigator turns about and advances on the Immortals that had cowardly attacked him from the rear. The Knight Errant shoots at the closest Doomsday Barge, failing to penetrate, and at the rearmost Warrior squad in the centre, killing three. The Knight Warden shoots at the closest Warrior squad, killing five, and kills the last Destroyer. The Crusader also shoots at the closest squad of Warriors, finishing it off. Bois-Guilbert shoots and kills four Immortals, before assaulting the Lord’s retinue. The Immortals prove impossible to wound in close combat, however. Even the Stomp attack fails to do any damage.

1 - 2

Round Three

The Necron infantry advances again, firing volleys at the Knights Warden and the Paladin. They take a Hull point off the Warden for their efforts. Both barges, as well as the C’tan Shard shoots at the Knight Warden, but the shield holds firm. The Castigator makes a Tempest attack before Stomping and kills another four Immortals, but not before loosing two Hull Points to the Necron Lord’s Warscyte.

The Knight line advances again, before opening fire. The Warden on the hill in the centre fires at the Warrior squad below, killing the last seven. The Crusader spreads its fire power among the C’tan shard, the warriors and the Ark on the right, but fails to do any damage. The Paladin fires its Battle Cannon at the Warriors in front of it. Both shells smash straight into the squad, and blows six warriors away. The Heavy stubbers kills another one, forcing them to fall back. The Errant fires his Melta Cannon at the Barge, scoring yet another Hit on the scatter dice but fails to penetrate. At the rear, the Castigator falls to the Necron Lord.

2 - 3

Round Four

The C’tan shard summons an Antimatter Meteor at the Knight Warden. One Doomsday Ark and the last warrior in the centre fires at the same Knight. The Ion shield saves every shot that rolls high enough to cause damage. The Warriors that fell back into the river regroups and shoots at the Knight Paladin, but also fails to penetrate anything. The Lord and last Immortal assaults the Knight Crusader, and the Scarabs assaults the Errant. The Lord causes a Penetrating hit, but only takes a Hull Point off the Knight. In return, the Knight Stomps one wound off the Necron Lord. The Errant hits and kills three bases of Scarabs before loosing two Hull Points in return. The Errant then stomps out the rest of the Scarabs.

The Knights Errant and Warden close in on the C’tan shard and the Necron Warriors. The Knight Paladin fires its battle Cannon at the Doomsday Ark and the Heavy Stubber at the Necron Warriors in the river. The Errant fires at the Warriors squad. The Melta cannon kills four, the Stubber another one. The Knight Warden fires his Avenger Gatling Cannon at the same Warriors squad, wiping the rest of the unit off the board, and then the Stormspear missiles at the C’tan, taking two wounds off it. The Knight Crusader swings and kills the last Immortal. It then loses three Hull Points to the Necron Lord’s Warschyte before stomping the Lord into the ground, earning Ørn Slay the Warlord. The Knight Paladin assaults and slays the last two Warriors in the river.

3 - 8

Round Five

The Doomsday Ark on the left flank fires at the Knight Errant, taking off one Hull Point. The C’tan shard summons another Antimatter Meteor at the Knight Crusader, but fails to penetrate. The Ark on the right flank misses its shot.

The Knights Errant moves to flank the C’tan shard, shooting its Battle Cannon and Avenger Gatling cannon. The Battle cannon fails to do any damage, but the Avenger takes the last two wounds off the Necrodermis construct. The Knight Errant advances to within melta range of the Doomsday Ark on the left flank, firing the Melta Cannon but rolling snake eyes to penetrate. The Warden then assaults the Doomsday Ark on the right flank and causes a Glancing Hit on the Impact Hit and another two with the Reaper Chainsword. The Paladin assaults the Doomsday Ark on the left flank and causes it to explodes with the Impact Hit.

3 - 11

Round Six

The doomsday Ark on the right flank remain stationary to shoot at the Knight Warden, taking another Hull Point off it.

In return, the Warden swings and cuts the last Doomsday Ark in half…

4 - 12

The final score is four Victory Points to the Necrons, versus a massive fourteen to the Knights.

- o - o -

The strange war machines and battle automata vanished as suddenly as they had appeared. Sir Brian de Bois-Guilbert's Castigator would likely never rise again and both Philip de Malvoisin's Errant and Sir Front de Boeuf's Crusader would need weeks in the restoration halls before being able to to take to the field again.

+ + + SIGNAL REACQUIRED + + +

There was still a chance to achieve the mission's primary objective, it seemed. It would fall to Sir Hugh de Bracy and Ralph de Vipont to complete it, and uphold the honour of House Hawkshroud...